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Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment

What is the Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment on My Bill?

The “Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment” (WPCA) represents costs to generate electricity that are different from what was projected at the beginning of each calendar year, and that would normally be collected in our published rate structure. Each month, the amount and cost of power purchased and power sold are compared with the annual budget. Any variations in the actual versus projected power costs go into a formula that estimates what the WPCA should be. The WPCA is an optional rider to your regular rate schedule, and it has been in place for all of Flint’s rates for more than 20 years. Flint reinstituted this charge in December of 2004. (The chart below shows the last 10 years' of WPCA history.) The WPCA absorbs the volatility of generation fuel costs and aims to spread it over the projected kilowatt-hour sales that remain in the year… that helps mitigate the impact to members by spreading the price spikes. Calculated monthly, the WPCA can be zero, positive or negative, based on actual power purchases and the estimated prices for future generation fuels.